


What They Fight For

by heyjuderemember



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-02-23 10:13:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13187949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heyjuderemember/pseuds/heyjuderemember
Summary: What do the Avengers fight for? Peace, humanity, and...Phil Coulson thinks they're forgetting. So he creates a contest- a lottery for one lucky citizen of the world to move into the tower with all the Avengers to remind them what they fight for.





	1. Prologue

Phil Coulson hadn’t been sold, even though it was his idea, but Tony Stark was. He tried to explain this, but since it was his idea, he was technically at fault. 

Tony Stark admitted he loved the idea, but maintained he only went along with it because Steve agreed with him. 

Steve Rogers said he thought the idea was a good one. He’d even went on TV to promote it. Frankly, he blames himself for starting the whole thing, but he was just trying to help. He wanted the team to understand something, he argued, and besides, it would be good for Wanda and Vision to make some friends. 

Wanda wouldn’t talk about what happened. Vision only said he was sorry that he’d let Thor talk him into it. Thor wasn’t even there all that much, he continued, it shouldn’t have been his decision to make.

Thor thought that having a human around would be good for him. Besides, if Sam thought it was a good idea how bad could it be? Looking back, he realized, it probably wasn’t a good idea. He wasn’t around that much anyway. 

Sam thought this was something manageable. Having a regular person around was even a blessing at times, especially for Bucky. But, he concludes, danger was present and he didn’t see it. None of them did. 

Bucky liked having someone to talk to besides Natasha. He had a lot of feelings about what happened but then again, so did everyone else. 

Natasha had been avoiding Bruce since everything went down. She feels like maybe it’s his fault, even though Clint promised her it wasn’t.

Clint thought it was Bruce’s fault. He just didn’t want to break Nat’s heart. He didn’t want her to be disappointed once again. 

Bruce isn’t convinced it was his fault, for once. But if he didn’t do it, who did?


	2. Secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jude puts together her application for the contest. She can feel it, like a premonition, that she's going to be chosen. But she puts a secret in her application, just in case.

Jude wasn’t going to pretend like she didn’t care about the contest. The chance to see the Avengers up close every day, to talk to them and become friends with them? Sign her- and most of the country- up.   
There were ads everywhere now, online, on billboards, all over the buses and train stations, telling everyone to register for the lottery where one lucky winner would be chosen to go live in Avengers Tower. Jude felt like she deserved it more than anyone else. She actually cared about them- all of them, even Bucky, who everyone was still wary of after the whole incident with Tony Stark last year. She knew that she alone could fulfill the purpose that they wanted: to bring a sense of humanity to the group, to remind them what they were fighting for. Jude secretly hoped that if she was chosen, she could help them, too. She could help Bucky assimilate to this new life, she could convince Bruce that he wasn’t a violent monster, she could help Steve be a little less righteous and burdened. Jude knew if she was chosen, she could help them see themselves as she saw them. 

She boarded the train, sitting under a poster urging her to register her name and complete a profile to be entered in the contest. But, of course, she had registered weeks ago, as soon as the contest was announced. She hadn’t told anyone that she was confident her life was about to change.  
PROFILE NAME: Jude O’Neil  
ID NUMBER: 8206479  
SEX: Female  
BIRTHDATE: May 08, 2002  
AGE: 15  
HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 5’4/115  
EYES/HAIR: Green/Red  
HOME ADDRESS: 25 Aster Road, Apartment #33, Manhattan, New York, 10035  
PARENTAL CONSENT? Y/N  
Jude sat alone in her apartment and clicked the yes box with no hesitation.  
As the days until the drawing ticked by, Jude could barely focus. She could feel it, that indescribable hum in her bones. She knew somehow, deep inside, that she would be chosen. She would be chosen for the sole reason that she deserved it, and if not that, for the video clip she had attached to her profile. Sure, the contest was supposed to be a lottery. But Jude was willing to bet that it kind of wasn’t. They had to be looking for a certain type of person to give Earth’s Mightiest Heroes their humanity back.  
Hello! My name is Jude, she’d said in the video. I am 15 and I’m a sophomore at Solas Academy. You probably don’t know it. That’s okay.   
Here’s my secret, she’d continued, leaning closer to the camera, if I came to the tower, I don’t think anyone would notice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, I'm sure you can tell by now that Jude is going to be chosen...why else would the whole story be focused on her? I decided not to beat around the bush with that little fact because we're all smart here, so why waste time? Anyway, sorry for the short chapters. They'll get longer, I swear! Leave me a comment if you read this whole long rant :)


	3. Jude Was Right

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jude was right. So she packs up her stuff, with no regrets really.

Jude was right. When they finally announced the winner, it was her ID number flashing across every screen, appearing on every advertisement, broadcast on every radio. Out of the whole world, it was #8206479 that had been chosen. Even crazier, no one knew it was her because she’d never told anyone her ID number. Every broadcaster was going nuts trying to find her and every news outlet was wildly speculating about her identity.  
Somehow, Jude made it to school that day, leaving her suitcase half-packed on the floor in her bedroom. All day she felt the tinge of last around her- last gym class, last precalculus lesson, last lunch period- even though she fully expected to be back the next day.  
When she got back home, she left the dishes in the sink and the crumbs on the carpet and her homework in her backpack. Instead, she packed up every last thing that she owned in a couple of big suitcases she found in the hall closet. In went shirts and dresses, shoes and boots, notebooks and pens. The snow globe she’d gotten when she turned seven. Assorted stuffed animals. Her wallet and ID card. Laptop and charger. Her favorite necklaces and then every other necklace she could find. She even rolled up her bedsheets and crammed them into a bag. Then, after stuffing her pillow into her backpack with her phone and a book, she used her apartment key for the last time as she went downstairs to wait for the car that was supposed to pick her up and take her to her new life.  
“Goodbye, Mom. See you later, Dad,” she said as she left. There was only silence as the door clicked shut behind her.

She almost screamed when the long, dark, car pulled up and the tinted window lowered. “You O’Neil?” asked the man who she could barely see behind reflective sunglasses.  
“Yeah,” she answered breathlessly, gathering as much stuff in her arms as she could and standing up.  
The trunk opened slowly.  
“Load up and get in,” the man said. “We don’t have all day, this location isn’t the most secure.”  
“Yeah, sure, of course,” she gasped, frantically trying to shove her three suitcases and one large trashbag into the trunk.  
She walked around to the front of the car and tried to open the passenger side door. The tinted window lowered again.  
“You serious, kid? You sit in the back. And I drive.”  
She nodded pathetically and had barely pulled the door closed when the car screeched into traffic. Just like that, her apartment was gone. Jude didn’t look back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so maybe I lied and said this one was going to be longer sorry! Genuinely thought edits would make this longer but it didn't so oops. But I actually swear that the next one is longer. I think my new thing is going to be overly long rants in the end notes. Leave me a comment if you think that's a good idea (or if you want me to stop) (spoiler I won't). Also, any guesses on who the ~mysterious~ driver is?


	4. The Tower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jude moves into the tower and makes a friend.

Jude could barely breathe as they pulled up to the tower’s gates.   
“Security clearance: Happy and the project,” the man barked into the speaker.   
So this was the famous Happy, the head of security at Stark Tower! He doesn’t seem very happy, Jude thought with a private smile. Swinging her backpack onto her shoulder, she got out of the car and headed toward the trunk to grab all her stuff.   
“Kid,” said Happy, exasperated once again. “Someone will bring it up, okay?”  
“Oh, yeah, right, of course,” Jude answered, flashing Happy a grin. “Sorry.”   
He sighed and then reached into his pocket and handed her a small metal keychain in the shape of the old S.H.I.E.L.D logo.   
“Keep this with you at all times, unless you’re in your apartment. Do you understand?”  
Jude took it and nodded vigorously. “Yes. At all times.” She smiled slightly. “Nice retro design.”  
“Yeah, whatever,” said Happy. “Just don’t lose it.”   
Turning on his heel, he led her inside and pushed her into an elevator.   
“FRIDAY, to the living quarters, please,” he said.  
“Certainly, Happy. Right away,” replied a smooth, computerized voice and the elevator started to move.   
When the elevator stopped and the doors opened, Jude found herself looking straight into Captain America’s face.   
“Hi,” she said, trying to arrange her face into something resembling normal.   
“Hey,” he said, with an easy smile. “Jude, right?”   
“Yep, that’s me!” she chirped, instantly regretting her overly friendly manner.   
He smiled again. “Good. Come with me, okay? Oh, and,” he said, turning back toward her, “Call me Steve.”  
She followed him hesitantly out of the elevator. Her first real, proper steps in the tower! And they were on...grass? She looked around wildly. The room- because it was still a room, they were still inside, they had to be- was filled with grass and edged with bushes. In the center of the room was a pool with a big orange umbrella and three long pool chairs. Garden furniture was scattered around, and three big trees spread their leave wide over the scene. The perimeter was lined with doors and Jude saw Captain-freaking-call-me-Steve-America standing next to a white door with four small glass panels etched in from the top to the bottom.   
“This is your apartment,” Steve said.   
“I get...an apartment?” said Jude, a little giddy.  
Steve laughed. “We all have them. We all live on this floor together, and now you do, too.”  
They awkwardly stood outside the door until Steve, clearing his throat and rocking back on his heels, said “Um...only you can get in. Since it’s your quarters. So you have to open the door.”   
“Oh my gosh, right, sorry,” Jude mumbled.   
When the door swung open, Jude was not prepared. The floor was a dark and warm pine, contrasting with the pure white walls. A kitchen unit, with a stove, an oven, a sink, and a refrigerator, was wrapped against the wall next to her, tucked into the corner. In front of it was a white table with two chairs. Next to the kitchen unit were two tall metal storage shelves, one a kelly green, the other dark gray. Between the shelves was a crisp white window. A matching green rug stretched out in front of it, with a dark gray reading chair facing the shelves and the window. On Jude’s other side was a gray couch, the back of which she slowly touched. Another couch faced the wall, where a white television was mounted on a long white shelving unit. A green rug filled the floor between the couch and the TV screen.  
“We figured, O’Neil...probably Irish,” said Steve watching her carefully. “So we picked green. Well, Sam and I did, anyway.”  
“It’s...great. I love it, I promise,” she smiled.  
The far wall was bare, except for two doors.  
“Bathroom and bedroom,” Steve explained.   
Jude crossed the room to the set of double doors on the right. As she opened it, she was greeted with a soft baby blue carpet and a tall, metal, loft style bed with a tablet lying on it. The space under the bed was filled with a guitar, a table, and some stuffed animals. A wardrobe with soft wooden doors was opposite the bed. On the other wall was a tall desk with shelves climbing up the wall, a matching chair, and most surprisingly, a hamster cage.   
“Wanda thought you might want a pet. For the loneliness, she said,” said Steve from the doorway. Jude laughed. “I don’t have a hamster. But thanks,” she replied.   
The wall behind the bed was all windows, and Jude could see the tops of the fake bushes through them. She turned back to Steve, but he was already gone, heading off through the apartment.   
“One more room to see,” he called. Jude hustled after him.   
The bathroom, as it turns out, was the final room. It was pretty much what you would expect from a bathroom. A toilet, sink, and a shower. A blue shelf to put all her stuff. But the bathtub was what made her stare. It was clean and modern and perfectly round, taking up its own wall under a window.   
“Well, thanks,” said Jude. “It’s great. I think I could get used to this.”  
Steve smiles again. “It’s community dinner in ten minutes. Everyone really wants to meet you.”  
Jude smiled weakly. "Okay...great."  
They headed toward the elevator together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay this one is longer like I promised :) Next chapter soon!


End file.
